Some Blue Sky (actually this is a bit further out and so might qualify as Black Sky) research would help. However, unless there is a working theory and hypothesis there is nothing to test; thus the work would be little more than data gathering at this point. That in itself would be valuable and is usually (always??) a necessary first step in formulating a theory in the first place. To me, it seems this "field" suffers from a large credibility gap due to sloppy experimental controls and erroneous conclusions based on the suspect data and wishful thinking. Some good, objective, well controlled experimental research would definitely help in that area.

I also think research into the whole area of cognition, awareness and how the brain works will continue to produce results. I agree with Steve Parkes that you likely can't separate the mind and brain. Since we don't have any solid indication that the mind can exist outside the brain, it seems the mind works within the framework provided by the physical brain. So the more we understand the brain, the closer we can come to being able to study and understand the "mind".

Finally in all the research we should keep the principle of "Occam's Razor" in mind: click here for brief description.

- Dave T